Excerpt
SUMMARY: At the University of Pennsylvania, a research team has been working on an experimental treatment to kill leukemia with a patient's own immune system cells. So far, the results have shown startling success. Special correspondent Jackie Judd reports on the growing research on immunotherapy in fighting cancer.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now to a promising medical story in the continuing fight against cancer. It’s about a big change in the world of oncology.
These days, there’s growing interest, better results and more pharmaceutical dollars to develop immunotherapy, or using one’s immune system to attack cancer cells. It’s been a long road to get to this point. For decades, researchers have tried to find a way to make this kind of treatment work for patients. And now oncologists believe they are turning a corner.
Special correspondent Jackie Judd has our report about one intriguing approach in Philadelphia.
JACKIE JUDD (NewsHour): This is your first look?
DR. CARL JUNE, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania: Yes, it is.
JACKIE JUDD: If buildings tell a story, the story here is one of progress. Dr. Carl June leads the team responsible for a promising trial in which the body’s immune system is turned into a cancer-fighting weapon.
He and a once-small group of researchers began work in a closet-sized space, but soon will have two floors of what will be a state-of-the-art building at the University of Pennsylvania.
And this will be the largest group of people working on immunotherapy in an institution?
DR. CARL JUNE: Oh, yes, we think by far it’s the largest group in the world.
JACKIE JUDD: Here is why. Since 2010, a group of children and adults suffering from leukemia and running out of treatment options have been in an experimental trial in which their immune system cells were genetically modified to kill cancer. It is an approach other institutions are pursuing as well. The first results at Penn startled even Dr. June.
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